Belt and Road Initiative boosts China-Russia cooperation

Russia and China share the common position on many international issues and Russia is willing to carry out active and constructive cooperation with China.

The Belt and Road Initiative shows China’s resolve in promoting global economic governance and common development with other countries. The positive response from the international community and all measures China has taken show that China will never pursue global hegemony. Instead, China is keen to see the prosperity, stability, balanced economic development and peace of the world.

China has contributed more than 30 percent of global growth on average each year since the 2008 financial crisis, and China has always been the main defender of globalization and supporter of free trade.

The Belt and Road Initiative can be successfully aligned with various multilateral cooperation platforms such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the BRICS. The initiative is an important means to build a human community with shared destiny, and is also of great significance to the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

In the alignment of the EEU and the Belt and Road Initiative, Russia has an urgent need to improve its logistics infrastructure. Efforts should be made to build modern ports and strengthen cooperation between customs of the two countries, so as to fasten cargo clearance and lower trade costs. The Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway project is an important step in advancing the construction of the Eurasian high-speed transport corridor. The China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor also has great potential for development.

(The author is a senior research at Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. This is an excerpt from her article. The translator is Li Yang.)